User:BeatriceKnits/drafting

Content from basic writing to edit.

Thoughts for editing/expanding:

Thoughts on lead section: should probably at least reference reform; as I did this, wondering if it might need a new section on scholarship. Also I'm increasingly frustrated with the history/theorists section.
 * more explanation of the reform efforts and data that led to them [DONE]
 * probably link to Remedial Education [DONE]
 * differentiate between types of reforms and reasons for reform (e.g. AB705 could be answered with any of the others) [DONE-ISH]
 * is the studio model worth mentioning here? I often see ALP referred to as a studio model, so I'm not sure why separate [DONE]
 * the sources are all fairly old [ADDED NEWER]

Lead Section
Basic writing, or developmental writing, is a subdiscipline of composition studies which focuses on the writing of students sometimes otherwise called "remedial" or "underprepared", usually freshman college students. Since the early 2000's, non-credit-bearing basic writing courses have been subject to significant reform with some institutions eliminating them completely. Current scholarship in basic writing includes new models for supporting "underprepared" students.

Reform Efforts [published]
Remedial education came under national scrutiny in the early 2000s as organizations like Achieving the Dream turned their attention to improving community college success rates. Reports from the Community College Research Center showed that under 50% of students entering developmental sequences completed them, with even fewer successfully completing the college-level gateway course.  Complete College America's report "Remediation: Higher Education's Bridge to Nowhere" targeted each state in the US, showing data on success rates for two and four year colleges and advocating placement into college-level courses with co-requisite support.

Reform efforts nationally have taken the form of many different interventions, some of them originating from faculty and others imposed from legislative mandates at the state level. These efforts focus on reducing the amount of pre-college or remedial coursework that students are required to complete prior to taking degree-credit courses, responding to research suggesting that students who take remedial coursework are less likely to be retained to college.

The Accelerated Learning Program, developed by faculty at the Community College of Baltimore County, is a faculty-driven model that moved students assessed as needing remedial coursework into a college-credit writing course with co-requisite support in the form of class time and more intensive small group instruction. Earlier faculty-led efforts include stretch courses, which extend a college-level course over two semesters; and the writing studio model, a less-structured precursor to co-requisite courses.

In some states, legislation and other mandates from governing entities have driven basic writing reform. For instance, California's AB 705 "clarif[ies] existing regulation and ensure[s] that students are not placed into remedial courses that may delay or deter their educational progress unless evidence suggests they are highly unlikely to succeed in the college-level course." Community college teachers and administrators have sought to adjust their curriculum and placement mechanisms to respond to the legislation.

Often reform efforts start with legislative or board mandates, but implementation is designed by faculty: the California Acceleration Project is "a faculty-led network that supports California's 116 community colleges to transform English and math programs"; public institutions in Idaho collaborated to respond to state board mandates to eliminate remedial courses while "retaining agency and individuality of institutions...while still working from common frameworks with shared goals rooted in disciplinary expertise and practice."